Switch between Morphospecies of Pocillopora Corals

Pocillopora corals are the main reef builders in the eastern tropical Pacific. The validity of Pocillopora morphospecies remains under debate because of disagreements between morphological and genetic data. To evaluate the temporal stability of morphospecies in situ, we monitored the shapes of indiv...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American naturalist 2015-09, Vol.186 (3), p.434-440
Main Authors: Paz-García, David A., Hellberg, Michael E., García-de-León, Francisco J., Balart, Eduardo F.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptation, Physiological
Animals
Anthozoa - anatomy & histology
Anthozoa - classification
Biological taxonomies
Chlorophyll
Chlorophylls
Coral reefs
Corals
Environment
Environmental conditions
Environmental disorders
Gulfs
Gypsum
Mitochondria
Morphology
Natural History Note
Oceans and Seas
Open reading frames
Phenotype
Pocillopora
Pocillopora damicornis
Regional identity
Seawater - chemistry
Species Specificity
Storms
Water flow
Weather
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Summary:Pocillopora corals are the main reef builders in the eastern tropical Pacific. The validity of Pocillopora morphospecies remains under debate because of disagreements between morphological and genetic data. To evaluate the temporal stability of morphospecies in situ, we monitored the shapes of individual colonies in three communities in the southern Gulf of California for 44 months. Twenty-three percent of tagged colonies of Pocillopora damicornis changed to Pocillopora inflata morphology during this time. This switch in identity coincided with a shift to a higher frequency of storms and lower water turbidity (i.e., lower chlorophyll a levels). Seven months after the switch, P. inflata colonies were recovering their original P. damicornis morphology. All colonies of both morphospecies shared a common mitochondrial identity, but most P. damicornis colonies undergoing change were at a site with low-flow conditions. This is the first in situ study to document switching between described morphospecies, and it elucidates the influence of temporal shifts in environmental conditions on morphologically plastic responses.
ISSN:0003-0147
1537-5323
DOI:10.1086/682363